May 1, 2017

As noted in this post, last week the en banc Sixth Circuit took up the current stay in Ohio blocking executions, but set oral argument for a month after Ohio's scheduled execution. Thus, unsurprisingly and as reported in this local piece, "execution dates for nine death row inmates have been delayed while the state continues its appeal of a court decision blocking use of its lethal injection protocol." Here is more:

Nine executions were pushed back in a revised schedule released Monday by Gov. John Kasich. The next execution, of Akron child killer Ronald Phillips, was rescheduled for July 26.

On Jan. 26, a federal magistrate judge found the state's three-drug injection cocktail to be unconstitutional and stayed the next three executions. A three-judge panel for the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the lower court and kept the stay in place. The full Cincinnati appeals court last week agreed to rehear the state's appeal. A hearing has been set for June 14.

The state had planed to execute Phillips and Gary Otte, who killed two people to death in back-to-back robberies in Parma, before that date. Otte's execution was moved to Sept. 13. The state has scheduled 33 executions through March 2021.

I think it reasonable for Gov. Kasich to expect the full Sixth Circuit to rule on the state's execution protocol within roughly a month after hearing oral argument.

Comments

It would have been reasonable for the 6th Circuit to decide the matter in the expedited manner requested by the state. Alas, justice delayed while they dither reaching the only outcome supported by the applicable legal standard.

Posted by: Public Servant | May 1, 2017 4:56:03 PM

Kasich is a non-entity rejected by the patriots who put Trump in the White House. If had a spine, he would ignore the judge's decision. He would have state police taser and expel any federal marshals who dared question his decision. Trump would never send them anyway.